Thomas (20 page)

“
I staple it to your
head.” Thomas looked at him sharply, and Nildale burst out
laughing. “You really are too much fun, aren’t you? No, I don’t
staple it to your poor head. But you’ll be fine. I promise. Once
you’re crowned you’ll be known as Lord Thomas and Linyah Lady
Linyah. People will hit you up for favors as I’ve mentioned before.
But nothing horrendous, I think. They’ll be things like making so
and so the overseer of this land or that. I take care of that part.
Then there will be the women. They’ll be all over you. But I’m
pretty sure Linyah will take care that it doesn’t go too
far.”

Thomas nodded. He was going to fuck
this up. He just knew it. As he reached for Linyah to tell her what
was going on, Nic sat down with his dad. His smile made Thomas
think that something else was going on with this whole crowning
thing and he was going to hate this even more.

“
You have to wear a robe
and carry a scepter too.” Thomas didn’t even look at Nildale for
him to confirm or deny this. He was frankly too afraid to. “And
then there’s the ring you have to kiss. It will be on my finger at
the time and you’ll pay homage to me.”

“
You’re full of shit.”
Both Nildale and Nic started laughing. Thomas watched them for
several minutes, wondering what the hell was wrong with them, when
he smiled. He was going to get them back if it was the last thing
he did. As they continued to laugh he got up and left them there,
leaving the crown on the table where Nildale had put it. There
wasn’t any such thing going to happen; he’d been played all along.
He just knew it.

Misha was on the phone when he found
him in his office. As he hung up, Thomas asked him if things were
okay. He nodded and stared out the window beside his desk for a
long time before he spoke.

“
I’ve just spoken to my
lawyer. I’m being sued for kidnapping Hannah. And if I give her up,
convince her to go with her grandparents, the suit will be
dropped.” Thomas didn’t know what to say. “I’m not going to, but I
do plan to tell her what’s going on. But I know…she’ll think I
should do it. I know that she will.”

“
I don’t know. She loves
you a great deal and is excited to be having your baby.” Misha
nodded but said nothing. “These people, do we know when they’re
going to arrive?”

“
In the morning.” Thomas
nodded this time. “I have to talk to the family about this. I know
that the women are out having fun, so we’ll get together when they
get back. If I had more time…if we had more time, I’d say let them
have until later. But we can’t. I was wondering if you could let
Linyah know. Maybe she can prepare Hannah for this.”

He said he would and reached for his
mate. She sounded so full of life that he hated to take that away
from her. But when he told her what was going on, she told him she
had it covered. She told him that over the last several days, she
and Hannah had worked out a brilliant plan to make these people
leave them the hell alone.

We’re going to make him
wish he’d never heard of the Lanning Leap. Hannah and I have been
planning this for days now, and she’s so excited to be standing up
to someone. After today, who knows how this will turn out? But
she’ll be just fine.
He asked her what she
was going to do.
Never mind. You just let
us take care of it. Hannah needs this more than she thinks she
does, and telling her grandparents off is going to make her
confidence level shoot through the roof.

He told Misha, who smiled before
speaking. “Do you think we can have a part in all this? I need
something too.”

Tell him that everyone has
a part and his is the best.
Thomas wasn’t
sure if this was a good idea, but to see his brother smiling like
he’d just been awarded a big check was going to make it worth it.
Even if he had to sell his house to bail them all out.

Chapter 11

Howard Little watched the tiny little
thing bring his wife a wine. He was going to fire her as soon as
they landed. There was no point in doing so now because he’d just
have to listen to her whine about not being employed. But he’d told
the staff a million times that his wife was to get nothing unless
he said it was okay. Damned bitch would learn her place or she’d
just have to suffer the consequences. Carole looked at him before
she took a sip. And she was going to learn her place as well. He
didn’t like this new her. She was acting like a child and it had
all started when she’d found out that her granddaughter was still
alive.

“
You’ve been getting very
uppity here lately.” His wife of forty-seven years said nothing as
she took the small plate of vegetables too. “Did I tell you that
you could ruin your meal with snacks? What are you trying to do,
Carole, piss me off before we even land?”

He reached for the plate only to have
her jerk it from his reach. Howard was so shocked he could only
stare at her. But when she sat it with the wine glass on the small
table, he started to rise. This was going just too far and it was
time to put her back into the place he liked her in.

“
Touch me and I will side
with Hannah about coming to live with us.” Howard had no idea who
she thought she was talking to, but he slapped her before she said
another word. Everyone cleared out of the room until it was just
the two of them. He watched her as the blood from her lip swelled,
then spilled down her chin. She made no effort whatsoever to clean
it up, and that pissed him off more.

“
I’ve had enough of this
shit from you. Do you hear me? You’ll behave yourself or I will
make sure you regret it for a long time. I will not have insolence
from you. Where are you getting this idea that you can do as you
please? Since your son left us, you’ve been acting out. Well, I
won’t have it.” She didn’t say a word nor did she wipe the blood
from her lip. “Get cleaned up. You sicken me.”

Carole stood up, but when she
staggered slightly, he waited for her to fall. He loved it when she
fell. It was his perfect chance to tower over her. She’d fall, and
he’d stand over her without touching her as she struggled to stand
up. But this time she only held onto the back of her chair as she
steadied herself. Damn it all to hell. Nothing was going the way
he’d planned it, and he was going to figure out where he’d lost
control. And soon too. He could not, would not have people thinking
he was weak ever again.

When she was gone, he felt his anger
toward all of this tomfoolery come to a head again. To have to take
time out of his busy work day to retrieve his granddaughter was
simply too much. She should learn her place too or he’d show her
the consequences as he’d done to her mother. And that had not
worked out so well either. He thought—well, he’d hoped—that she’d
get out on her own and realize that she couldn’t do it. Not without
her daddy’s money. But she’d been killed and his granddaughter had
been taken. If that wasn’t bad enough, now she had resurfaced and
he had to fix that too. She would do as he told her. If her mother
had done what he’d said, she’d be here and he’d not be flying
nearly across the United States to clean up her mess. Howard called
for his secretary, who came out of the back part of the plane
almost immediately. She had her pen and pad out to do whatever it
was he told her. Just as things should be.

“
Get a message to that
Lanning person, Misha I believe his name is. Tell him that I want
to meet my granddaughter as soon as we land. She will come to my
hotel and we’ll have a nice talk. Tell him his company is not
welcome or needed. I will have this taken care of today and not
later. I need to return home as soon as possible.” Carla nodded as
she wrote out notes. “And whatever kind of name Hannah is, I want
you to file something to have it changed back. Her mother’s name
will do nicely. She no longer has any use for it so that will work.
Kelli is a ridiculous name but for now, until I can pawn her off in
some business dealings, it will have to do.”

He had never particularly cared for
the name Kelli, but it was the principle of the thing now. He
should have been there to name his daughter, and since he had been
at a conference when she’d been born, he’d had no say in it. Well,
he’d take care of it now. His wife had paid dearly for that mistake
if he remembered correctly. There were other things he needed Carla
to do as well.

“
Cut off my wife’s
spending. All of it. And she is to have a maid that will listen to
me sit outside her door at all times. If she leaves the room, I
want to know about it. If she makes a call…you know what? Have her
cell phone cut off as well. There is no reason for her to have it
anyway. She has no friends that I don’t approve of, and they only
talk to me when they want something from her.” Carla said she would
take care of it, and Howard had a thought. “My granddaughter…what
else have you found out about her and that family she is living
with? Any news on getting their marriage dissolved?”

“
No sir, not yet. They
have been married for a few months now, and we must make sure that
there is no child.” Howard would take care of it himself if there
happened to be one. “And then there is the money. She has a great
deal of it at her disposal. If she needed to, I do believe she’d be
able to hire herself a good lawyer. I do not foresee her going
against you, but with these younger people, who is to say what
stupidity they will do?”

“
I know that this Lanning
person has given her whatever she wants, the fool. But her money is
not a problem to me. I didn’t even look into his finances. He does
not make enough to make a difference to me.” He’d cut that out as
well, her having her own accounts. That was something that Howard
prided himself on. If he didn’t like it, or it didn’t work, he’d
simply cut it out. It was why he had the nickname of “little
chopping block.” And he loved it.

After making sure that she had a list
enough to make this work, he settled back in his chair. His wife
came out of the bathroom and sat down in her seat just as her wine
and plate was taken away. She only smiled at him and he wanted to
hit her again. But the pilot said they would be landing soon and he
didn’t want her a mess again. But she’d pay.

Since Daniel had come to this
godforsaken land and talked to his granddaughter, Carole had been
acting a little out of sorts. Then when Daniel announced that he
was moving, she started disobeying him at every turn. It had
started out small, almost unnoticeable at first. Then she’d gotten
mouthy with him a little too often. Howard had taken to locking her
in her room during the day when he’d have to go to the office. It
was a damn nuisance.

Then there was Wanda. Smiling, he
thought of how he’d gotten her to play along. He’d tried to get
Daniel to give up on the woman when he’d announced he was in love,
but when he figured he could use her addiction, he let the
courtship and marriage go as planned. He’d even given them a house
to live in, one he had set up with cameras all over the house so he
could keep tabs on them. Then this thing with his granddaughter
gave him the prime time to bring Wanda back into her sickness and
get two things at once. Wanda would give him the grandchild he
didn’t want in Kelli’s child, and he’d have her committed because
of her gambling. It was perfect.

Until recently.

Wanda had called him just last week.
“I can’t make her do what you want. She said that she’s in love
with her husband and that…and that she won’t leave him. I think
she’s a good deal stronger than you think.”

“
Stronger than me? I think
not. You get her to come here or so help me, I’ll tell Daniel what
you’ve done and make sure that every club you’ve joined knows what
sort of sick person you are.” She didn’t say anything, which
surprised him. Normally she would beg him or even sob a little,
like that was going to change his mind. “You hear me? I will ruin
you.”

“
You already have.” The
phone went dead, and it was everything he could do not to call her
back and demand that she hang up the phone properly. Instead he
called in a few favors. He may not live near them any longer, but
money spoke volumes when you wanted something done. He was
wondering how many times she’d been arrested now. The man he spoke
to said he’d take care of everything. Howard had expected reports
but wasn’t concerned about them right now. He’d get a full rundown
when he landed. But then things there were not as he’d planned
either. Not really. He’d hoped that she’d call back, beg him to
back off. But he never heard from any of them.

Howard had tried to call her several
more times over the next few days. She never answered. His calls
were directed right to voicemail. He had left her a few messages at
first, stern ones telling her all the things he was going to do to
her when he got her back home. It never occurred to him that his
son wouldn’t come back to the fold. When Howard wanted something,
he damned well got it. He was tempted to call his son, and finally
after several more days of nothing, he gave in. But Daniel too had
his calls redirected. It was the reason he was flying out here. It
was time to jerk them back to his part of the civilized world. It
was hard enough controlling them when they lived close. But when
they were this far away, it was more difficult.

As soon as the plane touched the
ground, he was barking orders. There was a limit to how much time
he’d spend in this area, and the sooner things got finished, the
sooner he’d get back to his well-ordered life. The first thing he
did was fire the waitress. As he waited at the door for the stairs
to disembark to be put in place, he reached for Carole’s hand and
squeezed it as tightly as he could without breaking
bones.